Frame construction for an industrial truck



Jan. 31, 1961 B. uLlNsKl FRAME CONSTRUCTION FoR AN INDUSTRIAL TRUCK medNov. e, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. Bo/wszfqu UL//vsm Jan. 31, 1961B. l. uuNsKl FRANI: coNsIRUcIIoN FOR AN INDUSTRIAL TRUCK 4 Sheets-Sheet4 Filed Nov. 6, 1958 R.. m N E W 4 r-rop/vcy FRAME CONSTRUCTION FOR ANINDUSTRIAL TRUCK Bronislaus I. Ulinski, Fiossmoor, Ill., assignor to TheYale and Towne Manufacturing Company, Stamford,

Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Filed Nov. 6, 1958, Ser. No. 772,329

'1 Claim. (Cl. 280-150) This invention relates to industrial trucks and,more particularly, to the main frame structure for such trucks.

Those persons skilled in the art will readily appreciate that theconstruction of the main frame for trucks of this class presents aconsiderable problem. For example, it is necessary to maintain the truckof a size suitable for Operation in narrow warehouse aisles and freightcars, and the like. At the same time the frame must be sufticientlystrong and rigd to support the various parts essential to the Operationof the truck as well as the heavy loads that must be lifted andtransported.

Trucks of the class described carry some form of load handlingattachment, such as a pair of forks and Uprights for elevating the forksand the load. 'These Uprights are carried by the frame at the front endof the truck immediately forward of the front wheels. To counterbalancethe weight of the forks, Uprights and load, the truck must carry a heavycounterweight at its opposite end. This counterweight must be inproportion to the load handled, and since the same frame may frequentlybe used for several different load models, this matter of counterweightis very important as will appear presently.

The frame may also carry mechanism for tilting the load carrier, as wellas a traction unit including a motor and steering linkage, a fluid pumpfor driving load lifting and tiltng hydraulic rams, a second motor fordriving the pump and a reservoir for supplying fluid to the pump.

I have conceived by my invention a novel frame structure that enables meto meet all these requirements through a construction that is relativelysimple and easy to manufacture.

As a particular feature of my invention, I provide as part of my frame,a pair of longitudinal complementary bars widely spaced for part oftheir length at the front end of the truck and then bent toward oneanother so as to be narrowly spaced at the rear end of the truck. TheValue and utility of this feature will be amplified later.

As another feature of my invention, I Weld a heavy transverse tie bar tothe narrowly spaced rear ends of the longitudinal bars. This transversetie bar serves as a support for a series of counterweights in a numberand weight to balance the load carried by the load handling attachment,as well as for a horzontal pivot or bearing upon which I mount the rearaxle.

As a further feature of the invention, I secure a tank for containinghydraulic fluid just forwardly of the rear wheels. More particularly, Iprovide a center transverse tie plate welded to the underside of thelongitudinal members at converging portions thereof between their widelyand narrowly spaced portions. The fluid tank is bolted to the undersideof this center tie plate.

As a still further feature of the invention, I secure a traction unit tothe widely spaced ends of the bars, the traction unit housing extendingbetween these widely spaced ends to add rigidity to the frame as anintegral part thereof. I then suspend my fluid pump and its atent2,969,991 Patented Jan. 31, 1961 operating motor from the longitudinalbars between the traction unit and the fluid reservoir.

I have thus outlined rather broadly the more important features of myinvention in order that the detailed description thereof that followsmay be better understood, and in order that my contribution to the artmay be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features ofmy invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form thesubject of the claims appended hereto. Those skilled in the art willappreciate that the conception on which my disclosure is based mayreadily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures forcarrying out the several purposes of my invention. It is important,therefore, that the claim be regarded as including such equivalentconstructions as do not depart from the spirit and scope of myinvention, in order to prevent the appropriation of my invention bythose skilied in the art.

A specific embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes ofillustration and description and is shownin the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the truck frame in accordance with mypresent invention;

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the structure shown in Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the lines 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an exploded view of the rear section of the frame illustratingthe assembly of the counterweights to the rear tie; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view similar to Fig. 3, butillustrating a greater number of counterweights mounted on the rear endof the frame.

Referring to the drawings, and more particularly to Figs. 1 to 3thereof, there is shown a truck frame comprisingl a pair of longitudinalcomplernentary bars 10 and 11 widely spaced for part of their length atthe front end of the truck and then bent to converge toward one anotherand narrowly spaced at the rear end of the truck. A transverse end plateor rear tie 12 is fixed to the rear ends of the side bars lt) and 11 asby Welding. Uprights 14 are supported at the front end of the truckforftilting movement by a pair of tilt rams 1'5 connected throughbrackets 16 to the side bars. i

A driving and traction unit 17 is supported at the forward end of theframe and includes a drive motor. 19, a front axle housing '20 extendingbetween the side bars 10 and 11 and connected to those bars at theirwidely spaced ends. Front wheels 21V are mounted outside of the sidebars 10 and 11 and supply traction and driving movement to the truckunder the control of the motor 19.

To provide hydraulic power for driving the' rams 15 and otherhydraulically controlled accessories, such as a load carriage, forexample, the side bars support a second motor 22 just to the rear of thetraction unit 17 and at a level below the top of the side bars. A fluidpump 24 is mounted in driven relation to the motor 22 and serves toprovide hydraulic fluid under pressure to the various rams for operatingparts of the truck.

As I have mentioned before, the side bars are bent toward one another sothat they converge in a rearward direction for part of their length, asat 2'5. At this conaxle on the truck frame, a pivot 30 is welded to, theend plate 12 in the longitudinal axis of the truck, as shown in Figs. 2and 3. The axle 28 is formed with a bearing to enable it to rock uponthe pivot 30 when the rear wheels 29 move over irregular ground. Theaxle 28 is retained on the pivot 30 by an end plate 31 secured to thepivot by screws`32. The axle is also formed with a pair of lugs 33 thatprovide bearing surfaces in contact with the end plate 12 at pointslaterally spaced from the pivot 30 so as to accept forces that occurwhen the wheels 29 strike an obstruction, thereby minimizing bendingstresses on the pivot.

The wheels 29 may be mounted for steering movement on the axle 28 in anysuitable manner, and may conveniently utilize the novel mountingarrangement taught in my Letters Patent No. 2,829303, dated April 8,1958, and entitled Steering System for Industrial Truck. In thisconstruction, I utilize duplicate mounting members 34 formed with stubshafts for rotatably mounting the wheels 29 and also formed to mountaxle king pins and a tie rod 35. In order to steer the rear wheels, theframe also supports a steering linkage that includes a hand steeringwheel 36 connected to a conventional steering unit 37 by a steeringcolumn or post 39. The steering unit 37 is supported on the truck frameside bar and imparts rotary motion to a bar 40 that is connected to thesteering unit through an adapter 41. The bar 40 is unversally jointed asat 42 to a shaft 44 that extends longitudinally of the truck. In orderto obtain maximum rigidity for the steering mechanism, and to utilizethe frame to best advantage, I place the shaft 44 in the plane of theside bars 10 and 11 and I provide bearing means such as a bearing sleeve45 that supports the shaft 44 for rotation by the bar 40 on a constantaxis. This sleeve 45 is fixed to the frame and, as shown in Figs. 1 to4, actually passes through the side bar 10 at its converging part 25 towhich it is welded so that the rear portion of the bearing sleeve 45 isadjacent the bar 10 where it is narrowly spaced from the bar 11. Therear portion of the sleeve terminates in substantial alignment with thesteered wheels.

At its rear end, the shaft 44 protrudes from the bearing 45 and isconnected to an end of a pitman arm 46. The other end of the pitman armis connected to one end of a link 47. This link extends across thelongitudinal axis of the truck and has its opposed end connected to thetie rod 35 at a point between the longitudinal truck axis and an end ofthe tie rod so that When the hand steering wheel is rotated, thismovement is transmitted through the steering post 39 and steering unit37 to the bar or end plate 12 may be utilized to support a series ofcounterweights, the number and weight of which may be altered asrequired to balance the load carried at the opposite end of the truck,or as may be required by different load models. Referring to Fig. 4, thebar 12 is shown in exploded relation to counterweight or ballast plates49. It will be observed that the bar 12 has a series of bolt holes 50and that registering holes 51 are provided in the plates 49 forreception of bolts 52 that secure the desired number of counterweightsto the bar 12. The rear counterweight 49 has an upstanding part 54 thatmay comprise the rear wall of a compartment such as a batterycompartm'ent, for example. As shown in Fig. 5, a greater number ofcounterweights may be supported on the bar 12 and, in this manner, thelocation of the upstanding part 54 may be altered to vary the size ofthe battery compartment.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that I contribute by myinvention a frame construction for an industrial truck that is of a sizefor Operation -in narrow warehouse asles, freight cars, and the like andthat is at the same time sufliciently strong and rigid to support thevarious parts essential to the operation of the truck as well as .theheavy loads that must be lfted and transported. It Will also be seenthat my novel frame enables me to carry all of the necessary operatingmechanisms in a 'manner whereby they may operate freely of one anotherwithout adversely atfecting the stability of the truck under any loadconditions.

I believe that the construction and Operation of my novel frameconstruction will now be understood and that the advantages of myinvention will be fully appreciated by those persons skilled in the art.

I now clairn: In a truck of the class described, a main frame comprisinga pair of spaced longitudinal bars, a heavy transverse bar secured toone end of said longitudinal bars with the upper surface thereofsubstantially flush with the upper surfaces of said longiutdinal bars, atransverse counterweight plate detachably secured to said transversebar, said counterweight plate having a portion thereof extendingupwardly a substantial distance above said transverse bar and formingthe outer rear wall of a compartment for the truck, and a pluralty ofcounterweight plates nterposed between said first mentionedcounterweight plate and said transverse bar and detachably secured tosaid transverse bar, the upper surfaces of said pluralty ofcounterweight plates being substantially flush with the supper surfaceof said transverse bar.

References Cited in the file 'of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,198,885 Billinghurst Sept. 19, 1916 1,321,857 Snell Nov. 8, 1919l,715,639 Burrows June 4, 1929 2,304,443 Butler Dec. 8,,1942 2,381,729Dunham Aug. 7, 1945 2,554,930 Ulinski May 29, 1951 '2,804,984 UlinskiSept. 3, 1957 2,820,S56 Davis Ian. 21, 1958

